2004 Vibe GT owners - Lower lift for $100 without any tuning!

[RWatters]

It was possible in the Matrix, so I decided to see if it was possible in the Vibe GT. Sure enough it was! It's as simple as swapping your ECU to one from a 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT or 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS.Woah woah woah RWatters, what's that going to do?It's going to lower your lift engagement point from 6500rpm to 6200rpm. Revlimiter stays at 8200rpm. Will changing out my ECU have any bad side-effects?Depends on your definition of bad side-effects. The '03 GT/XRS did not have the air pump that '04+ cars had. As a result the ECU was not programmed to turn it on when you start your cold engine in the morning. Because of this it will not turn the air pump on. That said you will NOT have a check engine light turn on because of it. The air pump simply will not turn on. Otherwise your car will function 100% perfectly and nothing will change. You read that correctly, cruise control works, no CEL's, no premature revlimiters, no bad anything!So where does the $100 come from?That's all I paid for the ECU! Talk about a cheap modification!No tuning?Nope. There was a cheap lift controller that would lower lift, but it also required tuning because the ECU was still programmed to change cam angles, ignition timing, etc., at the factory 6500rpm point. This ECU has everything programmed for 6200rpm so it does it for you!What's the part number I need to look for?The part number will be on the ECU as a sticker. It will be 89661-01040. It will also have Denso (the company that makes it), 2ZZ-GE, and M/T. It has to have all of these or it is not the correct ECU and you run the risk of it not working!Why only 2004 GT owners?2005+ ECU's are pinned/programmed differently for both the Matrix and the Vibe. I believe that the Vibe changed to drive-by-wire and the Matrix has a completely different ECU pinout but don't quote me on that. Regardless, it doesn't work. lolWhere's the ECU located at?It is underneath the glove box. Directly underneath it. If you look down under the dash on that side you will see it. There is a little plastic shield that goes around it. It's held in place by two plastic bolts. I pulled down gently on the plastic shield and that removed both plastic bolts without breaking them. The ECU itself is held in place by two bolts directly above the ECU. They are 10mm. They are right above all of the wires that plug into the ECU. If you look at the ECU you'll notice that on each side it has arms screwed into it that go above the ECU. Follow those up and you'll see the bolts. They are gold in color. Remove those two and then pull gently towards you. On the back of the ECU it clips into the firewall but it releases if you tug gently. Also note that the wire harness is clipped into the side of the arm that holds the ECU in place. The arm that is facing the passengers side door. Needle nose pliers will take care of it. Installation is just a reverse of this. Make sure that you clip the back of the ECU otherwise it will not line up and the bolts will not go back in on the front. This will all make sense as you're doing it. It was too cramped of an area to take pictures. I'm sorry!I swapped this out in about 30 minutes and EVERYTHING on the car functioned perfectly. It is literally a direct swap and go. Lift engages much smoother now but the car still pulls the whole way to redline. Some have complained that the car lost power. If it did it's hard to tell, and having lift engage earlier is completely worth it to me. The car is more fun to drive now and 2-3, 3-4, 4-5 shifts appear to stay in lift if you shift as close to revlimiter as humanly possible. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll help as best I can!

[bassplayaz06]

idk about the matrix, but my lift starts at 5800... it changes depending on the engine temperature. also changes the rev limiter depending on the temp.

[RWatters]

Quote »idk about the matrix, but my lift starts at 5800... it changes depending on the engine temperature. also changes the rev limiter depending on the temp.I have the same exact ECU as you now so I can safely say that it engages at 6200rpm. This has been proven via multiple dynographs over on Matrixowners as well.You are correct about temperature effecting the revlimiter and lift however. If the engine is not up to a certain temperature it will not engage lift and the revlimiter will be a lot lower than 8200rpm. It's around 7000rpm IIRC.

[RWatters]

Some driving impressions after 24 hours of having it installed:The car appears to drive smoother. When shifting gears the RPMs appear to drop just a slight amount slower and it makes shifting smoother a lot easier. That was one of my biggest gripes about my car so it's been a pleasant surprise to say the least!One thing I read over on Matrixowners was people concerned that the car lost power. I have no idea if it's true or not, but my (removed) dyno certainly disagrees. The car pulls just as hard in the upper RPM range as it did with the added bonus of starting to pull hard sooner thanks to lift engaging earlier. There are still zero side effects of putting this ECU in. I could not be happier with this modification, and couldn't be happier that I managed to find an '04 model year.

[bassplayaz06]

ah, i noticed today on the way to church. it's at 6200. the v-tec for honda's start at 6300 but they stop at 7900.

[RWatters]

It depends on the car. The performance VTEC Hondas generally engage at 5800rpm and rev to 8000+. My Si (2007, powered by the K20Z3), for example, was 5800rpm and it went to 8300rpm. They are also geared so that they stay in VTEC when you shift. What Toyota was thinking when they decided to set lift where they did on these cars is absolutely beyond me.